The potential for contracting life threatening or currently incurable diseases such as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) through sexual contact with infected partners has substantially changed attitudes about engaging in casual sex in our society. While certain measures Carl minimize the risk that a sexually transmissible disease will be transmitted from one partner to another, many people have viewed that risk as too great to justify a sexual relationship with another person. One way in which prospective sexual partners can minimize the risk and alleviate the dampening effects of concern about contracting such diseases from the other partner is to first ensure that each partner has recently been tested for at least life threatening or currently incurable sexual diseases, with negative results.
In many cases, a verbal assurance by a prospective sexual partner that the person has recently been tested for diseases such as HIV, genital herpes, hepatitis B, or hepatitis C will not be sufficient to convince the other partner to engage in sex, since the person giving the assurance may not have been tested or may have been tested with positive results for such diseases. Proof of the testing is somewhat hard to provide, particularly when the prospective sexual union has occurred following a casual meeting or under circumstances in which proof, such as documentation of the medical test results, is not readily available. Clearly, a readily accessible registry that shows proof of recent negative test results for sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) for each partner would greatly reduce the risk of contracting such diseases from a sexual liaison, and the assurance provided by enabling the other prospective partner to access this proof would certainly reduce the concerns of both prospective partners for incurring such risks.
The Internet has become a freely and widely accessible site for all types of information and would provide an ideal medium to enable medical test results to be readily accessed by a party who has been tested and has authorized the test results to be recorded in an accessible registry. The registry in which such test results are stored could be accessed through any computer or other computing device that is coupled to the Internet, from virtually any place in the world. Alternatively, the registry could be accessed by telephone. The only other requirements for such a registry to serve the intended function would be that the access to an individual's test results be securely limited only to the person who was tested and to others provided access by that person, and that the party who was tested be unable to modify the test results that are posted, other than to delete the results. Clearly, it is very important that the other prospective sexual partner be able to rely upon the results of such medical tests to the extent that the tests were properly carried out by a certified testing agency.
The ability to access the results of tests for STDs in an accessible registry would not mean that partners engaging in sex should do so without taking other protective measures, such as using condoms. In fact, it would be desirable to provide education about safe sex practices at the same site as the registry in which the test results are stored and accessed in order to encourage individual awareness of risks, and responsibility and safety in dealing with STDs. The registry site might thus include information of a socially conscious nature or provide links to information concerning the practice of safe sex, in addition to providing the test results for assuring a prospective sexual partner that the other prospective partner was tested and found to be free of STDs, of at least a life threatening or incurable type.
It would also be desirable to employ, a registry accessible over the Internet (or other public network, including the public telephone network) at which test results for other types of medical tests could be stored and accessed by the person tested and/or by authorized medical personnel. While many other types of test results could be accessed on such a site, examples of such tests would be those carried out to measure blood glucose (for diabetes), or to measure protimes (for blood clotting factor), troponin (cardiac function), myoglobin (cardiac function), or creatinine (for renal function). Use of a registry to store these results would minimize paper work and reduce errors in reporting the results.
Also, it would be desirable to store the results of home medical tests at an Internet registry site, so that both the individual being tested and that person's physician are able to access the results. In connection with home testing, it would be preferable to provide an interface between an automated test apparatus designed to carry out the test and the individual's computer to process the test results and transmit them to the registry for storage. For example, the test apparatus might couple to the person's computer through a universal serial bus (USB) port or through a serial or parallel port. Some tests require that a relatively complex analysis be performed to determine the level of a substance in the person's blood or other bodily fluids or in bodily samples (e.g., serum, plasma, urine, saliva, hair, etc.), and such tests are more readily carried out by a personal computer. The results could then be automatically transmitted to the registry site for storage and access by the person's physician or for use in prescribing appropriate drugs, therapy, or prophylactic measures. Alternatively, the test data could be analyzed by the registry site or its affiliated laboratory(ies) and the results made available on the registry site for access by the subscriber or other individual authorized by the subscriber.
Another possible application of this invention is a registry site that is directed to securely storing the results of testing for recreational and illicit drugs (e.g., marijuana, cocaine, opiates, phencylidine, amphetamines, barbiturates, benzodiazepines, methadone, propoxyphene and alcohol). Such a site could be used, for example, by employers and employees or prospective employees where such testing is a requirement of employment, i.e., in law enforcement, judicial and drug rehabilitation settings, or in the required testing of athletes.
Accordingly, it will be apparent that providing a site, which is secure, for storing medical test results accessible over a network (such as the Internet) has many desirable applications. Currently, no such site is available that both provides evidence of the identity of the individual tested and also enables the secure access of test results.